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Tracy McGrady: Rockets' 22-game win streak more impressive than Heat

Former NBA star Tracy McGrady said that the Rockets' 22-game win streak was more impressive than the Heat's current streak. (Brian Babineau/Getty Images).

Tracy McGrady, a member of the last NBA team to win 22 consecutive games, said Monday that the Houston Rockets' win streak in 2008 was more impressive than the Miami Heat's current 22-game win streak.

McGrady told ESPN's Chris Broussard that the Rockets had to deal with much more during their streak — including Yao Ming's foot injury in the 12th game of the run. That left 41-year-old center Dikembe Mutombo to fill Yao's shoes.

"I'm enjoying watching because of the unknown," McGrady told Broussard of the Heat's streak. "But the way we did it was a lot harder. Having Yao go out around the 12th game and Dikembe filling his role was huge for our team. And we didn't have three guys making $100 million."

The Rockets' streak began in January 2008, when the team fell to only 24-20. By the end of the streak, they were 46-20. The Rockets ended up finishing fifth in the Western Conference and lost in six games to the Utah Jazz in the first round of the NBA Playoffs.

The Heat are gunning for the all-time record — the 1971-72 Lakers' 33-game winning streak. They came into Monday night's game against the Boston Celtics 11.5 games in front of the rest of the Eastern Conference field.